French government to sue Carrefour over big supplier discounts

The Economy Ministry said it would seek a fine and a court order on the world's second-biggest retailer

The French government said on Wednesday it was taking retail giant Carrefour to court for illegally seeking big discounts from suppliers, following an investigation.

The Economy Ministry said it would seek a fine and a court order on the world’s second-biggest retailer to stop what it described as “abusive commercial practices”.

It added that the investigation had found that the group had forced suppliers to give big discounts with nothing in return outside of annual commercial negotiations, which it said was not only illegal but hurt companies and farms.